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Conclusions
Third-party tracking is alive and well on the Web, and your web surfing activities are reported to a relatively small number of tracking services and content providers.
It is also important to consider that while the technical countermeasures I've listed here can block many types of tracking, they do not address the underlying sharing of information behind the scenes.
Usage agreements on many websites allow the sharing of information with third parties and there are surely numerous alternative channels, such as corporate to corporate server connections, which are invisible to end users.
If you are reading this article it is very likely that you can employ the appropriate mix of countermeasures to keep yourself safe from third-party tracking, but the typical end user is likely without the skill set required for successful self defense.
It is all of our responsibility to help inform others of the privacy compromises that are occurring on the Web and to assist them in configuring countermeasures.
In addition, we must raise our concerns to online publishers, large and small, about embedding tracking code in their sites.
While the problem of cross-site tracking shows little sign of abating, there are signs of hope. Some online publishers are beginning to realize that gaining the use of a free online tool isn't worth the cost of compromising the privacy of their readership.
For example, in a response to growing concerns regarding cross-site data collection, the popular German magazine Spiegel Online recently discontinued the use of Google's web analytics service, Google Analytics.
For the time being however, there is a long road ahead; please join me in helping to curtail cross-site tracking.
Greg Conti is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY. His research includes security data visualization, usable security, and web-based information disclosure.
He is the author of Security Data Visualization (No Starch Press) and Googling Security (Addison-Wesley). His work can be found at http://www.gregconti.com.